Police use fire hose on California man before fatal shooting

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Mike Medina recalls a conversation with his stepson-in-law, Michael Perez, a few days before his shooting death during an altercation with Orange police Sunday. He recalled that Perez confessed to an attempted suicide and showed burns around his neck. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG)

ORANGE – Drug addiction and a restraining order that prevented Michael Anthony Perez from seeing his four children made him a ticking time bomb, and may have sparked the deadly confrontation with police Sunday night, a family member said Monday.

“He was pretty disturbed,” his stepfather-in-law Mike Medina. “I tried to help him be a better person.”

Around 11:15 p.m. Sunday, Orange police officers attempted to pull over the white GMC van Perez was driving for a broken tail light. The van pulled into a parking lot in the 100 block of West Katella Avenue, where police also determined there was a criminal warrant associated with the vehicle’s license plate.

Perez, 33, refused police orders to get out of the van and, instead, lit a cigarette and placed a can of gasoline next to himself, police said.

Michael Anthony Perez, the 33-year-old resident of Orange, was fatally shot Sunday night after he stumbled out of a minivan with a knife attached to his belt, struggled with a policeman. Perez had barricaded himself in a minivan, set a can of gasoline next to himself and lit a cigarette, police said. (Photo Courtesy of Mike Medina)

Officers eventually flushed him from the van with a burst of water from a fire hose. However, during a struggle with police, Perez was shot once and killed. The deadly encounter was captured on video.

Medina said he envisioned that Perez, who had been living in the van for four months, could have died of a methamphetamine overdose, but never expected him to be killed by police.

“I didn’t want it to happen,” he said. “It looks like the police tried the best they could (to safely take Perez in custody).”

The officer is on leave as is standard protocol following all officer-involved shootings, Sgt. Phil McMullin said.

Perez became increasingly volatile after his wife filed a restraining order against him in February that prevented him from seeing his two sons, ages 13 and 8, and two daughters, ages 9 and 4, according to Medina.

“He loved them but he didn’t know how to control his anger,” Medina said.

Despite his demons, Perez was generous to those who knew him. He often gave free rides to transients, said 55-year-old John Mehr, who is homeless and was camped out next to a 7-Eleven in the strip mall where Sunday night’s shooting occurred.

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“He was a nice guy,” Mehr said. “He was never disrespectful.”

Veronica Aguilar, who has known Perez for about a decade, said she’s saddened by his death.

“He went through a lot of hard times and struggled to take care of his kids,” Aguilar said.

Perez had an extensive criminal history, which included violations not only for narcotics but also weapons, said Sgt. Jennifer Amat of the Orange Police Department.

Orange County court records show a lengthy criminal history dating to 2001, as well as convictions in 2003, 2005, 2006 and as recent as December, when there was a warrant out for Perez on a misdemeanor charge of driving without a valid license. Many of the charges were for controlled substance possession.

In July 2001, Perez pleaded guilty to a felony charge of unlawful taking of a vehicle and was sentenced to one year and four months in jail, plus three years’ formal probation.

Medina last saw Perez on Wednesday, when he delivered a McDonald’s hamburger to his van, which belonged to a relative and was parked near the apartment complex where his wife lives.

“He was in a suicidal state of mind,” Medina said, adding that Perez had a burn on his neck after he tried to set himself on fire.

Despite his difficulties, Medina remembered Perez as a skilled handyman.

“I tried to help him get back to work,” Medina said. “He had a lot of talent.”